The Great Workplace 2.0: A Solution for the People of “Occupy Wall Street”By Admin

October 25, 2011

The target organizations of the protests have simply not followed the principles of building a Great Workplace 2.0. They have abused their “Participants” (Customers, employees, vendors, community) to a boiling point.

The issues are a result of large corporations having a lack of “Intelligent Self Interest”. ISI is simply defined as taking into consideration the effects of your actions on others with whom you are connected or who play a role in your journey, and adjusting your direction to minimize negative results for all involved.

The targets on Wall Street are not Great Workplaces, let alone great places to work.

From the book “The Great Workplace 2.0”:

A great workplace functions at a higher level of purpose and productivity and is a more interesting place to work than other organizations. It attracts great talent and it attracts great results — for the customer.

It extends its intelligent self-interests beyond the executive suite into the depths of its own employment, into the rich treasure troves of vendor knowledge, the community and to all participants (stake / shareholders). It reaches out to the crowd within its community for opportunities and solutions. A great workplace understands intrinsically that being “open” is an advantage. When it reaches, it extends its hand in a positive manner both internally and externally looking for strengths and sustainable principles on which to further grow the business and the opportunities for participants. It simply does not adhere to the old model of corporate hierarchy and held power. A great workplace of today invites being benchmarked, but is always one step beyond being so static that its definitions are fluid.

Components of a Great Workplace that are missing in the targets of “Occupy Wall Street” are:

1. Statement of Purpose: A great workplace has a meaningful Corporate Statement of Purpose that is the foundation for corporate culture and therefore provides greater meaning to employment and work opportunities. This statement is driven by the affects the organization has on their customers and the role each participant can play in that directive. Purpose becomes an ethos that creates the very foundation for The Great Workplace 2.0™.

2. Collaboration: A great workplace is committed to fostering a collaborative, productive, engaging and rewarding culture that encompasses customers, prospective employees, employees, vendors, participants and the community. The organization practices collaborationto the extent that “internal and external” no longer have a distinction, and it recognizes that “community” has no true boundaries.

5. Intelligently Profitable: A great workplace has a financial focus on being intelligently profitable. This qualitative focus is founded in sustainability, the values within their purpose and a view of intelligent self interest for the organization and all participants. Intelligent self interest is defined as self interest that stands the test of, “how will my plan affect others?” It defines who the customer really is.

10. Management shows and invokes visible, tangible leadership: This core action directly supports the organization’s Statement of Purpose and operating plan. This leadership preserves the integrity of the organization’s purpose, and is both duplicatable and repeatable — at any level.

11. Transparent Integrity: A great workplace practices this as a core value. It is the proof of “Say what you do, do what you say, and prove it”. For The Great Workplace, Transparent Integrity, allows an inside or outside skeptic to see that PR and reality match. In essence it says: “Yes, we really do”.

12. Values: The ability of a workplace to be great should never rely solely upon being big or rich. Great is a value, and values can never be bought. Jim Collins in, Built To Last, defines it this way: “It is dedicated to the idea that true greatness comes in direct proportion to the passionate pursuit of a purpose beyond money.” Values are CULTURE, and culture is the (mostly) unseen core of what makes the organization a living, breathing entity. Culture is the focal point of intent.

One thing that all great workplaces have in common is this: they’re remarkable (worthy, noticeable and unique). Not because they have excessive benefits, bonuses, on-site daycare, or a slide that takes you to the ground floor, but because the entire organization has a purpose that is built around an ideal: do what’s best for the customer.

The entire world would be a better place if organizations would simply follow the principles of The Great Workplace 2.0. But all people inside and outside need to hold these organizations accountable.